Showing posts with label Pistola Whipped. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pistola Whipped. Show all posts

four thoughts on the 81st oscars

  1. I got 6 out of 8 of my predictions ("who will win") correctly. That's a heck of a lot better than I did last year! (Captain Crash slaughtered me, and his movie knowledge is about on the same level of my rugby knowledge.) I missed two categories: Best Supporting Actress, which was pretty much a toss-up anyway, and Best Actor, which was probably close, but I did list Sean Penn as my pick who should win. So I'm going to claim it as a modest victory.

  2. I've heard some back and forth on this, but I fall solidly in the camp that loved Sunday night's show. We are so on the right track here. A few of the musical numbers seemed to start out a bit awkwardly, but always ended spectacularly. The structure of the show actually made sense (imagine that!), and I loved, loved, loved the idea of having previous winners pay tribute to each of the acting nominees. For the first time, the Academy put some weight behind the cliché that "it's an honor just to be nominated." I'd like to see this same idea implemented for some of the other categories (directing, writing), but I know that might be a little much.

  3. I've gotta soapbox it for a second. Rant alert. I am getting so tired of hearing people talk about how boring the Oscars is, how it doesn't make for good TV, how the awards are not in touch with the masses, and how they should just not televise some of the less-than-sexy awards (Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, etc.) If you agree with all that, I'm going to talk directly to you for a second: Get over yourself. The Oscars do not exist to entertain you. It's not about the TV production, and it's much bigger than what you choose to watch on one Sunday night a year. The movie-making process is a gargantuan undertaking, and most of the really hard workers are already relegated to an untelevised "Scientific and Technical Awards Banquet". We only have a few, major-as-hell technical awards at the televised Oscars, and you can suck it up and sit through the award that goes to the guy that labored for months making your movies just perfect. We do not need our Oscars to be dumbed down.

    If it weren't for the Academy Awards, our film industry would be completely money-driven, as opposed to mostly money-driven. We'd lose all the art, in favor of a money-making machine. The Oscars, other awards, and the acclaim that go with them, are why little movies like Frozen River and The Visitor even have the chance to exist. If it were not for that, do you think studio executives would spend a dime on a production that wouldn't appeal to the masses? Remember, these are the same masses that helped Beverly Hills Chihuahua stay at #1 at the box office for a week last October. I don't want the Oscars to relate to those masses!!! OK, I'm calm now. But just one more thing. Remember 1984? Remember the Fiction Department, with the computer-generated plots, characters, and storylines? Take away our way to honor the art within film, and see how long it takes to get there. I'm just saying.

  4. Finally, to end this post on a bit of a lighter note, I give you Pistola Whipped and her favorite Oscar moment, which was...

    "...when Jennifer Aniston was presenting with Jack Black and the camera cut away for an Angelina Jolie close-up. Her fake laughing should have stopped the ceremony so the producers could have grabbed the trophy from Penelope Cruz's hands and awarded it to Jolie. That was truly legendary acting. Her best ever."
...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , , , , at 3:17 PM on Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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LAMB devours the oscars: best actress

Note: this post was part of an annual feature at the LAMB entitled "LAMB Devours The Oscars". Each day one blogger discussed one category of the Academy Awards. To read more of the entries, click here.

As I've complained ad nauseum on The Center Seat, I've been a very bad film geek this year. I'll spare you the gory details, but life has conspired... and I've actually had to make a conscious effort to see all the 2009 Oscar films. But still, I thought I was doing pretty well... until Fletch assigned me Best Actress, a category in which I had, at that point, seen only one of the nominated films!

Actually, it was a good thing. I got off my booty and went to the theater (and, in one case, Blockbuster), and now I can hold my head up in the LAMB's distinguished company. So, here we go.

Melissa Leo, Frozen River

This was a gripping story about a recently single mother who resorts to border smuggling to pay the bills--and it's the Canadian border. Cool twist, right? We're saturated with Mexico border stories, so this was refreshing. And I have to say... maybe it was the snowy backdrop, or the northern accent, or the raw desperation to keep her head above water, but I saw a lot of people I know in Melissa Leo's character. She's real, frank, unadorned, the anti-glamour-puss. Of course a lot of the credit for that must be shared with the person who created the character: screenwriter Courtney Hunt, who is also nominated.

Leo is fairly unknown; a quick perusal of her IMDB page reveals lots of guest stints on Law & Order and CSI, and roles in various obscure films, perhaps the least obscure of which is Mr. Woodcock. Did you see that one? Yeah, me neither.

I'm actually really cool with Leo's obscurity. How great would it be if relative unknowns were nominated at every Academy Awards? Of course she doesn't have a chance in hell, but it'll be nice to see her there Sunday night.

Meryl Streep - Doubt

Meryl Streep has gotten fifteen Academy Award nominations. Fifteen. That's more than any other actor or actress in the history of the Oscars. I'm sure there's a chair somewhere in the Kodak Theatre with Meryl's ass-print permanently molded onto the seat.

Still, it shouldn't be a surprise. Girlfriend can act. Overall, Doubt was a bit depressing for me (it's the story of a priest who may or may not have misbehaved with one of his school's young male students), but it was one of those movies that seemed custom-built as a showcase for great acting. And, naturally, Streep didn't disappoint. She portrayed a harsh, militant nun who suspected the priest of wrongdoing and did all she could to prove herself right. That character had so much potential to be flat and uncomplicated, but Streep gave her flashes of humanity, with a fleeting look of uncertainty or a slight shaking of the hands. This is one case in which the actress seems to have made the character who she was. But, fairly or not, that's what we've come to expect of Meryl Streep. Anything less than perfection in her would be a disappointment. Kind of a tough place to put her in, huh? Whatever. She's got fifteen Oscar nominations.

Kate Winslet - The Reader

I came to this movie with the distinct disadvantage of having read the book. We all know that books tend to far surpass their movie adaptations. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this movie, with its raw sexuality and complicated morality.

It's hard to think of a more complicated, conflicted character to challenge Kate Winslet. In this movie, she played an illiterate Nazi war criminal who has an affair with a 16-year-old boy. It's kind of Summer of '42-meets-Judgment at Nuremberg-meets-...I don't know... a Lifetime movie about illiteracy. Of course Winslet pulls it off. She is somehow able to portray vulnerability and pride simultaneously, but perhaps her greatest feat is that we forget about Kate Winslet and instead become wholly absorbed in the story. This is a case, in contrast to Doubt, in which the acting is merely a part of the experience of the film.

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

This is it. We are officially no longer allowed to dismiss Anne Hathaway as Princess Mia. I think we all suspected she was awesome (how much ass did she kick in Brokeback?) but now, there it is in black and white. She is a contender for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

It wasn't just handed to her either. In a film which was sometimes difficult to watch, Hathaway delivered a stunning performance as a recovering addict trying to fit in with her family upon her return from rehab. She's the classic black sheep, but the issues go deeper than that. In fact, the myriad issues of this textbook dysfunctional family explode at perhaps the worst possible time: the days surrounding the wedding of the "good" sister.

I have never seen Anne Hathaway like this. She knocked me on my ass. Frankly, she would absolutely get my vote for this particular Oscar, if it had not been for the final contender in this category...

Angelina Jolie - Changeling

I get a lot of flak from people I respect (Pistola, I'm talking to you) about my professional regard for Ms. Jolie. In this case, it's sometimes hard to distinguish feelings about Jolie's personal choices from judgment of her acting ability. Many people dismiss her as a skank/homewrecker/baby factory/whatever, and I'm not necessarily arguing with that. But I have always been a fan of Angelina Jolie the actress. From her first major role as a doomed supermodel in Gia, to her Oscar-winning turn as a sociopathic mental patient in Girl, Interrupted, to her heartbreaking portrayal of her own friend Marianne Pearl in A Mighty Heart, to this most recent role as a bereaved mother in Changeling, Angelina Jolie is a devastating actress. Her work speaks for itself.

I was shaking after I saw Changeling... Jolie is heartbreaking as a mother who tirelessly fights to find her lost son, even angering police and being thrown in a mental institution in the process. Of course she's a great actress, but she brought something outstanding to this particular role. We all know, regardless of our personal feelings for her, that she loves her kids. In addition, she lost her own mother shortly before starting filming on Changeling. Perhaps it was this personal experience that allowed her to lay herself open on screen in such a raw way.

I am going to unabashedly throw my full support behind Angelina Jolie for this Oscar. But the truth is, no matter who wins this year, we can't lose. The Academy has nominated five outstanding actresses, and whoever wins will do so because of merit, and not because of pity, or politics, or "it's about time", as in certain previous years (Halle Berry, I'm looking at you.) ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , , , , , , , at 12:49 PM on Thursday, February 19, 2009
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the curious case of benjamin button

I know I've been complaining about my inability to get into the theaters lately, ad nauseum, but it really is my current greatest frustration. Seriously, I see a movie preview on TV and I almost cry. Well, the new guy in my life* must also be getting pretty sick of my whining, because he made sure we got to two** movies this weekend!

I've been waiting to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for about a year. That's when Entertainment Weekly started talking it up, probably just because of the crazy-ass concept. (It also didn't hurt that it costars my favorite actress, the sublime Cate Blanchett.) For those of you who don't know, here's the film's premise: for no apparent reason, the title character is born as an old man, who then ages in reverse for the rest of his life. So he's wrinkly and feeble for a few decades; then he's Brad Pitt-a-licious for a little while; then, inevitably, he turns into a kid and dies.

So the concept is crazy. And, I admit, that's what sucked me in. But what kept me sitting in that seat was the amazing love story between Benjamin and Daisy (Blanchett). I generally have a HUGE problem with most movies' portrayal of love. A lot of films, especially mainstream ones, completely get it wrong. Movie love tends to be trite, unrealistic, and, frankly, insulting to my intelligence. Not Benjamin Button; this film gets it right. The love between Benjamin and Daisy is real: it's rarely glamorous, and it's certainly imperfect, but it's solid, sweet, simple, and enduring.

I have to take issue with some reviews that have knocked Benjamin Button for its format. The story is a flashback, à la Bridges of Madison County, in which a dying mother relates the romance to her incredulous daughter. To add a bit more drama, the mother and daughter are in a New Orleans hospital in 2005 as Hurricane Katrina comes ashore. To be honest, I can't really see anything wrong with that. The bulk of the story takes place (or has its roots) in New Orleans, and Katrina was arguably among the most profound events in that city's history (along with the Civil War, I guess). Actually, the Katrina situation reinforces one of the main themes of the movie: nothing lasts forever, no matter how much we might want it to. And if you know anything about Brad Pitt, the boy's been neck-deep in Katrina charities for years, even moving his whole huge-ass family to live down in New Orleans. So what's the problem? I don't get it.

I do really recommend this movie. It was lovely. And it had me in tears towards the end. I think that actually surprised Nuevo Man a bit, but seriously--he's going to have to get used to that.

*Pistola calls him Nuevo Man, and I think that's as good a handle as any, though it does make him sound a bit like an archaeological find. "Nuevo Man walked upright but had weird dorsal fins." Kidding. Haven't found any dorsal fins... yet.

**We also saw Doubt, which I will do my best to review sometime this week. Really, I will. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , , , , , , at 12:27 PM on Monday, January 12, 2009
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the "one" meme

This one I picked up from my bud David Bishop over at Hoping For Something To Hope For. Here goes:

1. One movie that made you laugh: Juno

2. One movie that made you cry: Dances With Wolves

3. One movie you loved when you were a child: The Neverending Story

4. One movie that you have seen more than 10 times:  The Princess Bride

5. One movie you've seen multiple times in the theater: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (A bit of a backstory here: this one came out when Greg and I were newly married. When we would get into a fight, I would cool off by spending 3 hours in Middle Earth. I must have seen it in the theater 7 or 8 times.)

6. One movie you walked out on: I honestly can't remember one. I tend to stick it out, even through the dreck.

7. One movie that you can and do quote from: Star Wars

8. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: Crossroads. The key word there is "were"... as many of you know, I have come to embrace the humiliation that comes with loving the Britney Spears movie. I can't help it. I want to be on a road trip with those girls.

9. One movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to watching yet: The Deer Hunter. I've had it from Netflix for the past month or so.

10. One movie you hated: Before The Devil Knows You're Dead. Pistola and I discussed this once.

11. One movie that scared you: Enemy Mine, when I was 5. I tend to avoid scary now.

12. One movie that made you happy: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I left the theater with an actual spring in my step.

13. One movie that made you miserable: Taxi to the Dark Side

14. One movie musical for which you know all the lyrics to all the songs: The Sound of Music

15. One movie that you have been known to sing along with: Moulin Rouge!

16. One movie you would recommend that everyone see: Casablanca. I admit I stole this one from David, but he's right on.

17. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with: Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

18. One actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie: Edward Norton.

19. One actor that would make you less likely to see a movie: Steven Seagal.

20. One of the last movies you saw: Once

21. One of the next movies you hope to see: Australia ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 9:58 AM on Thursday, December 4, 2008
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5 people had something brilliant to say.

postlet #16

Keeping in mind that Pistola is deeply in love with her boyfriend, and that I am fabulously in like with Nathaniel, and hoping that you'll receive this with the self-deprecating and ironic spirit that we intend: Pistola and I have decided that relationships are for bitches.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , at 10:17 AM on Thursday, July 31, 2008
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7 people had something brilliant to say.

pistola whipped: time to shack up?

My girl Pistola waxes philosophical on the prospect of moving in with her (entirely cool) boyfriend.

At what point in a relationship is it okay to throw romance, passion and the beauty and solace of one’s apartment or house for a shared living space?

I’m not exactly sure, but I have been thinking about it lately. And not just for fun but because it may be time. Yep, time to co-habitate with the boyfriend.

We’ve been dating roughly seven months, haven’t known each other even a year and here we are: I’m forwarding him house listings from MLS. We’re emailing about yards, square footage, mortgages and central air conditioning. And it’s fun…right now. Speculating about our future, dreaming of barbecues in the backyard with all of our perfect couple friends. Decorating to each of our own tastes, satisfying both of our odd collections. I can see myself now, shaking my head and fighting a smile as I re-wash the dishes that my boyfriend carelessly rinsed and threw in a pile next to the sink. Oh, good times. And I’m sure we can still maintain our interesting and exciting sex life after taking out the trash, weeding the garden, painting over the weird kitchen borders the previous owner chose to hang, paying bills and sending off the errant solicitor. I’m sure we won’t disagree or grow sick of each other. I’m sure we’re the exception to the rule.

So, why should we carry on the way we are? I mean what’s great about having a safe, solo haven where I can drink a bottle of Cabernet and listen to stupid songs and air sing at the top of my lungs and fall over and break my own stuff without having to feel guilty about it the next day? I actually don’t like standing in front of the open fridge door in my underwear dipping sweet and sour pickles into a jar of crunchy peanut butter. Well, I don’t actually like doing it in front of others. And I mean, I hate going on the annual weekend-long garage sale tour with my friends and picking up the grossest paintings I can find and hanging them on my walls immediately after getting home. I hate that.

And what do I do when the boyfriend and I get in a fight? It’s nice to go home and fling myself dramatically in my bed and shamelessly pound on the pillows with nobody watching except for the movie audience I am acting for in my mind. What bed can I do that in if he’s already done it in ours?

I guess I’m struggling with a battle against the unknown. I know things right now are fantastic, awesome, and truly fabulous. I still get smug when one of my imperfect couple friends (scratch them off the backyard barbecue list) complains about their boyfriend’s showering habits. Like that he doesn’t shower. And I know that mine does, because he has time alone in his own apartment where he showers and writes songs about me and emails all his friends about the super cool chick he is thinking about buying a house with. I can still imagine him doing all this independent stuff and that warm feeling surges through me. But is that warm feeling true affection or is it because he is doing stuff I don’t get to know about and do with him?

I imagine we’ll end up living together. It seems like the natural progression of this thing that I like to call a relationship. I suppose we’ll just end up being another couple, buying a house and playing at being adults. Perhaps we’ll fail? Maybe we’ll succeed. What if he comes home one night and I’m on my knees, earnestly singing along to Bob Seger’s ‘We Got Tonight’ and he likes me for it? Even loves me for it? And what if he likes doing that too? Then we could listen to the Kenny Rogers/Sheena Easton duet version instead and fall down and accidentally break each other’s stuff (I’ve never liked his Ikea chairs anyway). Maybe it’s too jaded to think too far ahead in the future and assume that all the day-to-day stuff can get in the way of the cool thing we have. I think Bob sums it up the best, ‘We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow, we’ve got tonight babe, why don’t we stay?’ ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , at 4:11 PM on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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guest critic: the strangers

I am a bonafide horror movie wuss. I will never, EVER see The Strangers. So imagine my delight when Pistola Whipped agreed to review it for The Center Seat! You mean I get to post the review, but don't actually have to sit through it? Yippee!!! Thank God for friends (at least ones that are a bit more hardass than myself). Enjoy.

I do not question Nayana’s love and respect for movies. She has written about movies and we’ve discussed movies that I wouldn’t dream of seeing. And not because I’m a snob, but because…. well, yeah because I’m a snob. I appreciate that kind of dedication, whether it is to movie watching or classifying moss found only in temperate climate forest beds.

However, her love of movies does not encompass the horror/slasher flick genre. I usually don’t like them either. However, my friends had a different idea. They agreed to see Sex and the City with me, and then sneakily tricked me into seeing The Strangers instead. And since Nayana is definitely not going to see this one, I thought I would take it upon myself (I am so busy not doing my actual day job) to review it here: in the blog-a-go-go.

Let me start off by saying that I think that this movie was inaccurately portrayed as a horror/slasher flick in the previews. It actually played out as more of a psychological/psychopath movie along the lines of Silence of the Lambs or Seven. And that, to me, is a big distinction. I watched the first 20 minutes of this movie through my hands because I was expecting that weird tentacled thing in Carol Anne’s closet in Poltergeist to appear. After all, I’m old enough that I have to get out of bed at least once during the night to pee, but young enough to believe that a monster could still hang out under my bed. I watched it through my hands because movies about ghosts, oversized bugs loitering in the mist, crop circles and angry aliens freak me out. Your average roaming group of masked killers doesn’t. That being said, there were parts of this movie that did scare me.



So let’s start with a little plot familiarization. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play lovers who have hit a bit of a snag. They attend a wedding, return late in the evening to Speedman’s parents’ comfy summerhouse, and try to make the most of the night by drinking and listening to Sad Bastard music (see Jeff Tweedy, Richard Buckner and Don Gibson). They are startled by a knock on the door. It’s a strange girl covered in shadows asking where Tamara is (how did the writer know that the name Tamara is the creepiest name ever?) They inform her that Tamara doesn’t live there and instead of going away she stands at the end of the driveway, swings on the swing set, stands listlessly amongst the pine trees in an attempt to scare the viewer. At this point, naturally, Liv runs out of cigarettes and Scott runs out in the deep, dark night to fetch her some.

Enter the other two creepy, shadowy figures and let the madness unfold…

This is when my hands came down from my face and rested obstinately atop of each other. Over the next hour the viewer is exposed to sinister encounters with the three masked marauders who torture Liv and Scott for no other reason than ‘you [they] were home’. Bryan Bertino, writer and director, did a few interesting things to make this a creepfest. He would cut to shots of the house, which looked calm and kinda gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling like when you’d see a shot of the ‘Golden Girls’ house after a commercial break. One would never assume that any horrors other than floral-patterned wicker furniture were taking place within the walls of that solidly built 70’s rambler. And Bertino did kind of play on that whole Manson cult killing spree idea that kind of freaks me out too (side note: the Manson thing took place in the sixties--I don’t understand the sixties, and am therefore afraid of them), but overall there were too many token horror flick tricks and plot holes to make this a sincerely terrifying experience. Truly the scariest scene had to be before the movie even started, when the new Nic Cage ego-driven movie was previewed. Yep, it’s called Bangkok Dangerous. Chills literally just ran down my spine.

Liv and Scott get ups for decent acting and I think Bertino could go on to make a downright scary movie. However, the phony ‘based on real events’ beginning to the ‘it will be easier next time’ end line, as well as the casting of Franchise Queen Liv suggests that Bertino could get stalled out making even un-scarier sequels. So, my advice is to see this one…just skip the previews. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , at 11:28 AM on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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sex and the city

I think I'm getting old. Years ago, I'd have had no problem staying out past midnight and then showing up to work at 7:00 the next morning. Note to self: You're not 21 anymore, Nayana.

Oh my Lord, it was fun. There were eleven of us in the bar, then twelve of us in the theater, then four of us in the bar again. And as crazy as it sounds, because we're such movie buds, it was the first time I actually saw a movie with Pistola.

Part of our group. Pistola Whipped is top row, third from left. Smokin', ain't she?


The movie was great, by the way. Fantastic. Amazing. Met all expectations.

The big draw of "Sex and the City" (the series) is, of course the sex. And the fashion, too. And the comedy, of course. But what really drives the show is the deep, real, emotional connections, especially those among the four women. And, to my delight, Sex and the City stayed true to that. Of course there was great sex, and great fashion, and some kick-ass laugh-out-loud moments, but the heart of the movie--the real memorable moments--came from the love those girls have for each other.


I can't think of one thing I disliked about the movie. And, in case you're curious, J. Hud knocked 'em dead.

See it. Please see it. I'll be there again this weekend. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , at 7:40 AM on Friday, May 30, 2008
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12 people had something brilliant to say.

unlikely bedfellows

A while back I posted an email conversation between me and my co-worker/friend Pistola Whipped. We have a lot of interchanges like that, and just for fun (and with her permission) here's one from a few weeks ago that's slightly more risqué.

Be warned: You may learn a bit more about Pistola and me than you really wanted to know. If that freaks you out (or if you happen to be in my immediate family), turn back now.


From: Whipped, Pistola
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 3:57 PM
To: [All employees at Pistola & Nayana's workplace]
Subject: Friday, May 2

Hello all People of [Workplace]:

I will be off Friday, May 2 to return Monday, May 5.

Please consult [my boss] with any questions or comments about [my] caseload.

Thanks!

Have a fabulous weekend,
Pistola Whipped


From: Anthony, Nayana
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 3:58 PM
To: Whipped, Pistola
Subject: RE: Friday, May 2

I'll miss you like crazy. *sob*


From: Whipped, Pistola
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 4:10 PM
To: Anthony, Nayana
Subject: RE: Friday, May 2

I misspoke earlier. I am not receiving The Assassination movie. I'm receiving Gone Baby Gone and Music Within. How much do I want to have sex with Ron Livingston? And Paul Rudd? But he's not in the Music Within.


From: Anthony, Nayana
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 4:11 PM
To: Whipped, Pistola
Subject: RE: Friday, May 2

Gone Baby Gone was decent.

I also want to have sex with Paul Rudd. Yeah baby!

And Paul Giamatti. But that's just me. ;-)


From: Whipped, Pistola
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 4:12 PM
To: Anthony, Nayana
Subject: RE: Friday, May 2

That is just you. Heavens why?


From: Anthony, Nayana
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 4:18 PM
To: Whipped, Pistola
Subject: RE: Friday, May 2

Hard to explain in a concise manner. But I'm guessing his wife agrees with me.

He's hot in a "oh my God he's dripping with talent" way. Plus he seems smart. That turns me on, I guess.


From: Whipped, Pistola
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 4:32 PM
To: Anthony, Nayana
Subject: RE: Friday, May 2

He seems smart. I'm trying to think of really unusual looking actors I would sleep with. Possibly Steve Buscemi.


From: Anthony, Nayana
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 8:04 AM
To: Whipped, Pistola
Subject: RE: Friday, May 2

Bug-eyes and all? Well, I guess he is hot in that icky, greasy Steven Tyler way.

Anyway, I'd probably pass on the generic, perfect-looking Hollywood guy. I've heard that really gorgeous people aren't usually great in bed, because they never had to be.


I figured out later that little nugget of wisdom came from none other than Carrie Bradshaw. I guess with the big event coming up, I have Sex [and the City] on the brain. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , at 12:44 PM on Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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4 people had something brilliant to say.

guest critic: baby mama (rebuttal review)

Hey y'all. My good friend Pistola Whipped has graciously offered her rebuttal to my review of Baby Mama. (She liked it; I didn't.) Enjoy!

So, this is my attempt at a movie review and like everything I do, it’s outdated, irrelevant and probably misinformed. However, after reading Nayana’s review of Baby Mama, I felt it my responsibility to the non-douchebag moviegoers of the blog-a-go-go to offer a different perspective on a movie Nayana panned. In fact, I think she may have liked the douchebag sitting next to her, or behind her better than she did Baby Mama.

Lemme say right now that I had no real strong desire to watch Baby Mama. Judging from the previews, I thought it would be another pre-fab SNL skit-to-big-screen attempt, rife with piss-poor jokes, obvious product placement and the dreaded Lorne Michael cameo. And in all honesty, it was those things, except I don’t know if Tina Fey and Amy Poehler ever specifically created a skit for SNL with the Baby Mama motif. It does seem that all the bouncing one-liners and sardonic grins off each other during the past few years of "Weekend Update" was enough energy to spark a light bulb in a GE head upstairs. And poof: those bitches got themselves a movie deal. And not only that, but they got to laugh, look good and hang out in their hometown of Philadelphia while fulfilling it.

I laughed aloud a lot at this movie. I thought it was clever, touching and funny. Tina Fey played her character with humility and practicality, which gave cinematic vets Steve Martin and Sigourney Weaver a chance to play totally offbeat, freaky characters. Greg Kinnear shone in his granola-y, anti-big business, pro-neighborhood role. I don’t know many big-budget, multi-millionaire actors who could pull off the irony of his part. And I’m no fan of Dax Shepherd, but I didn’t really have to be, since he played the a-hole in this movie, and he played it well. I was most surprised by how much I loved Amy Poehler. She was lovably neurotic, fiercely loyal, and even though she was deceitful and felonious, I still wanted her and Tina to be best friends!

So, if dumb, overplayed, stereotypical SNL movies don’t trip your trigger, then I’m not going to try and change your mind. And this movie won’t either. However, I don’t doubt for a second that Fey and Poehler, smarty-pants that they are, view Baby Mama as a way to bust into Hollywood/the men’s locker room so they can brand their comedy and make movies on their own terms. They have honed their trade, and if you can take out the airbrushed cheekbones, plays on stereotypes, and hole-filled plot, Baby Mama is like watching "Weekend Update" for an hour and a half, with some interesting people stopping by. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , , at 3:19 PM on Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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baby mama

Let me start off by saying: Tina Fey's my girl. I so miss her on Update. Amy Poehler's pretty rad, too. So I had some expectations for this movie.... which were not met.

Baby Mama is the story of a workaholic career woman who suddenly finds out she can't have kids: a ginormous cliché if there ever was one. The thing is, clichés exist for a reason; there are plenty of us girls who ache to be mommies. I could totally identify with the scene in which Tina Fey's character surreptitiously sniffs the head of a stranger's baby. Many of us have that same hunger, which is why, I suppose, stories like this tend to find their market.

On the other hand, we like us some originality, too. Not a whole lot of that in this movie. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the movie. It was completely predictable, full of stereotypes, and not one laugh-out-loud moment for me. Disappointing, really.

And what the heck is with Tina's look in this movie? She's got a distinctive scar on her face (one of the thing that makes Ms. Fey unique), which was nowhere to be seen.

Do we need a generic Tina? I don't. But that's what we get in Baby Mama.

UPDATE: Pistola just reminded me of one good thing.... Steve Martin and Sigourney Weaver kicked booty in this! Hi-larious. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , at 4:09 PM on Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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a weekend of reruns

What do you do when there is absolutely no new quality movie fare in the theaters? I guess stay home and pout... or go see some old quality movie fare.

I was intrigued by my friend Pistola's raves on South Minneapolis's Riverview Theater (as well as a great review in City Pages), so Captain Crash and I took a leisurely drive along the Mississippi and checked it out.

Guess what... I have a new favorite theater.

The Riverview has:
  • one screen with over 700 seats
  • a huge, comfy lobby with 60's mod decor and cozy living-room furniture
  • popcorn with real butter
  • and best of all, admission tops out at $3.
Unlike many other single-screen theaters, they don't limit themselves to one show; the Riverview plays at least three different movies per day (five on the weekends). Friday night at 9:00, they were showing Into the Wild; we had initially loved that one, so we decided to see it again.

It was even better the second time, people. The run time is almost 2 1/2 hours long, but it flies right by. Into the Wild is a heartbreaking story, and just like ten years ago with Titanic, we all know how it's going to end... but that doesn't diminish a thing. Big kudos to Sean Penn for crafting this story in such an intense and affecting way. There were countless mind-blowing performances; Hal Holbrook absolutely deserves his nomination, but the Academy could have shown some love for Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden... The list goes on. At the top of the list, though, should have been Emile Hirsch for his subtle and complex work in the lead role. His heartbreak is devastating at the end of the story, when he makes a vital realization (which ultimately comes too late.) And, hey, if anyone feels like sending an I-deeply-love-Nayana present, that Eddie Vedder soundtrack is boss.

Saturday it would have been my sixth wedding anniversary with the former Mr. Anthony... but just to show you what mature and well-adjusted people we are, Greg and I went to lunch and then caught Juno at the Heights. (In case anyone wonders, this is my third Juno viewing. And, yes, it still kicks ass.) Greg does not have anywhere near my enthusiasm for good film, and he was about to waste his cash on Fool's Gold. I just couldn't let him do it, folks. Even if he did stomp mercilessly on my heart and break it into a million pieces (just kidding, Greg, you know momma loves ya), no one deserves to sit through that drek. He also mentioned a desire to see Untraceable. Ugh. Looks like I'll have to nip that one in the bud, and drag him to see a real thriller, like No Country For Old Men.

Juno is comedy of the highest quality. And I've officially decided that I'm ok with all the weird lingo in the beginning of the movie that seemed to irk so many people. In fact, the offbeat dialogue may actually be one of the biggest reasons I liked the movie. There's nothing wrong with expressing old, common experiences in a new, uncommon way. I am still firmly a massive Diablo Cody fan.

So that was it for this weekend. This week, I'm going to try to finally tackle The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Roman Holiday, Sabrina (the original with Audrey Hepburn), and whatever looks good on TCM.

P.S. I'm crossing my fingers on that writers' strike thing, people. It looks like we may actually have a deal... so Oscars as usual? (oh please oh please) ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 11:37 AM on Monday, February 11, 2008
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before the devil knows you're dead

An email interchange today between me and a coworker, Pistola Whipped. Pistola and I regularly trade recommendations on movies; we share a similar taste in movies and an affection for Ryan Gosling which I won't get into here. ;-)


From: Whipped, Pistola
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 8:12 AM
To: Anthony, Nayana
Subject: You were totally right

We went up to the Riverview and viewed Before the Devil Knows You're Dead last night.

Did not like it at all. I mistakenly thought it was supposed to be a comedy. Dead wrong. Yuck. Did every character seem miserable to you? And the music? Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. And the weird, super urban apartment with the waif-y, pusherman drug kid? It was so bizarre and hateful.

Luckily it was $3, Riverview popcorn is the bomb and I got a little snuggle time in with my main man...otherwise totally not into it.


From: Anthony, Nayana
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 9:33 AM
To: Whipped, Pistola
Subject: RE: You were totally right

Depressing. Everyone else seems to think it was the cat's pajamas. I sat there watching it, thinking "...Really?" It was awful.


From: Whipped, Pistola
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 9:49 AM
To: Anthony, Nayana
Subject: RE: You were totally right

I know it! I read several reviews (The New Yorker, City Pages, Star Tribune) and they just raved over it. Sometimes I think one reviewer sets the pace for other reviewers and they are afraid to bash something in case it goes to the Oscars and they get called out for their mistaken pan review. I would have given it a piss poor one even if I was writing for the damn Rolling Stone!


From: Anthony, Nayana
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 10:10 AM
To: Whipped, Pistola
Subject: RE: You were totally right

Yeah, that's the nice thing about the position we're in... we watch movies for FUN. So we're allowed to have any opinion we want. :-) The worst that can happen is our friends could give us a hard time... it's not really a financial risk.

So is THAT why I'm not a professional movie critic? Maybe I'll just tell myself that.

Additional Note: If any of you have a different opinion on Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, please, by all means, share it. I honestly would like to know why you liked this movie.


 ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
Posted by Nayana Anthony in , , , , , , , at 10:26 AM on Tuesday, February 5, 2008
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12 people had something brilliant to say.
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